Colectomy—Open Surgery Side Effects and Warnings

Possible Complications

If you are planning to have a colectomy, your doctor will review a list of possible complications, which may include:

• Damage to other organs or structures

• Infection

• Bleeding

• Hernia forming at the incision site

• Blood clots

• Complications from general anesthesia

Factors that may increase the risk of complications include:

• Having neurological, heart, or lung conditions

• Age: older than 70 years

• Obesity

• Smoking

• Previous abdominal surgery

• Active infection

Call Your Doctor

After you leave the hospital, contact your doctor if any of the following occurs:

• Signs of infection, including fever and chills
• Redness, swelling, increasing pain, excessive bleeding, or any discharge from the incision site
• Nausea and/or vomiting that you cannot control with the medicines you were given after surgery, or which persist for more than two days after discharge from the hospital
• Pain that you cannot control with the medicines you have been given
• Pain, burning, urgency or frequency of urination, or persistent bleeding in the urine
• Cough, shortness of breath, or chest pain
• Joint pain, fatigue, stiffness, rash, or other new symptoms
• Feeling weak or dizzy
• Pain or swelling in your feet, calves, or legs
• Bloody or black stools
• Diarrhea
• Lack of stool in the colostomy bag
• Severe abdominal pain
• Bleeding from the stoma
• Not collecting stool in the ostomy pouch

In case of an emergency, CALL 911.